"Ekklesia: The Nature of the Christ's Courts, Part 2"
by Dr. Patti Amsden
by Dr. Patti Amsden
As Jesus walked the earth, He was in the process of setting things in order to inaugurate the New Covenant. He taught on and demonstrated what His kingdom should look like and how it should operate. As we have been discussing, He transferred management authority of the Kingdom to His called-out in Matthew 16:18-19 and gave them the keys to open earth for heavenly purposes and to close earth against demonic assaults. Matthew 18:15-19 should be viewed as a companion passage to the former and a continuation of the Lord’s training in the operation of Kingdom Management. Every kingdom has a government that includes rule makers (legislative) and rule enforces (judicial). Jesus’ Kingdom, like that found in during Moses’ administration, would have both aspects of government.
Stating that the church court system collaborates with the decision-making or rule-setting aspect of the church may be best comprehended in the context of the covenant model. Understanding covenant is critical to understanding the whole of scripture as the Old Testament is, in actuality, the Old Covenant and the New Testament is, in fact, the New Covenant. The Bible is the story of two covenants. The first was given to Adam, and he failed to seal the deal because he did not fulfill the terms and merit the rewards. That covenant began to be dismantled from almost the day it was instituted. It was destined to be dissolved.
Throughout the Old period, God continued to build toward the coming of the New. God crafted His work in the earth, imparted His knowledge, empowered His people, proclaimed His promises, and advanced His purposes. At the perfect season and in keeping with all of His providential guidance, God brought to earth another Adam – Jesus – who would fulfill everything expected of Him and satisfy the righteous demands of a covenantal inheritor. Jesus ratified the covenant that God was offering mankind. Jesus started the New Covenant. The Old would be dismantled.
Although the previous description is overly-simplified, the point is made that the whole of scripture is a covenant book, therefore, at least a minimal understanding of covenant is necessary for comprehension and obedience to God’s Word. In 1987, a theologian by the name of Ray R. Sutton published a book through the Institute for Christian Economics that was entitled, That You May Prosper. Sutton’s work reshaped and gave a well-formulated model to covenant theology. Based upon his studies of the configuration of covenants in the ancient world, Sutton identified a five-fold covenant structure. He then used the five-layer model as a grid to view the whole Bible, various books in the Bible, and portions of scriptures within the Bible. The following is a brief overview of Sutton’s model:
1. Point One, transcendence, identifies the one offering the covenant. Of course, in a biblical context, God is the only True Transcendent Being who not only created all things but also offered his highest creation – man – the privilege of working for Him and with Him to manage His world. This is often referred to as the Dominion Mandate (Gen. 1:26-28) and this was an offer for covenant from the Transcendent God.
2. Hierarchy distinguishes the one to whom the covenant is being offered or the steward of the covenant and the heir of the promises. The hierarchy is often described as visible sovereignty because God makes His Transcendent Being and His Transcendent purposes known in the earth through those invited into His covenant. Hierarchy manages Kingdom activity for the Eternal King in His earthly affairs. Adam was God’s covenant partner; Abraham and subsequently Israel was offered the position of hierarchy; and finally Jesus and subsequently His ekklesia was placed in the role of hierarchy.
3. Ethics is the third section of the covenant model. Ethics are the rules. The transcendent one has the authority to determine when and how his assets may be used. Therefore, the boss gives the terms of the covenant. The hierarchy receives the offer of covenant by accepting the terms. Should the hierarchy determine that he or she would want the power and privilege of the covenant but would not want to conduct the boss’s business in keeping with the boss’s rules, that hierarchy would not qualify for covenant. Adam rejected the ethics or terms of “you shall not eat,” an action that had covenant repercussions. God returned to announce that He would find and establish a new hierarchy, which He called a new seed line (Gen.3:15). Hierarchy must keep the ethics for the promises and provisions to be obtained.
4. Point four of the model is sanctions, and sanctions addresses the reward that is delivered to the hierarchy. That reward is based upon obedience to the ethic. Faithfully keeping all the rules yields blessings while disregarding or disobeying the rules produces curses. Deuteronomy 28 expresses this principle. Blessings and curses are tied to obedience to the ethic. Adam did not keep the ethic, broke the covenant, and loosed curses upon the land and his offspring. Jesus always did everything His Father commanded, fulfilled all the covenant terms, and loosed blessings upon His offspring. The hierarchy not only agrees to the terms of the covenant, the hierarchy also makes an oath that includes accepting the curses of the covenant should he or she fail to obey. This oath, sometimes referred to as a self-maledictory oath (which means calling down maledictions or evil upon oneself), was declared on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal (Deut. 27:9-26), acted out by the Israelites in a ceremony (Jer. 34:13-20), and was the reference point for the actions of Abraham as he prepared to cut covenant with God (Gen. 15:9-21).
5. The final aspect of the model is continuity or how the covenant may continue. Who is the heir; who manages next; who ensures the future management of the transcendent one’s property and ethics? This person was always identified by both the giver and the receiver of the covenant before the deal was struck. Of course, God can always represent Himself in the future because He is eternal. Abraham understood this covenantal stipulation, which is the reason Abraham asked the Lord if Eliezer his steward could quality as his heir since Abraham did not have a natural child (Gen. 15:2-6). Continuity is the reason for the promise of God in his proclamation of a seed line to Adam (Gen.3:15), the three generation description of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the Abrahamic covenant, and the promise of a lineage that would forever sit upon the throne to David. In the New Covenant, Jesus is forever alive to guarantee continuity and He always has His ekklesia operating in the earth.
The five points described above give only a brief overview of the covenant model. The subject is worthy of volumes of books. However, for the purpose of understanding what occurred in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18, this condensed explanation serves well. Jesus, in the role of Transcendence, offered the New Covenant to His called-out as His hierarchy and transferred to them authority and keys. As has been discussed earlier, those keys were the laws because the only ethic that God allows is the one He decrees. Remember Adam? Matthew 16 identifies the first three portions of the covenant model while Matthew 18 expounds upon the operation of points four and five. Matthew 18 sets up courts to meet out sanctions and to guarantee continuity. Learn more about this in the next article
Stating that the church court system collaborates with the decision-making or rule-setting aspect of the church may be best comprehended in the context of the covenant model. Understanding covenant is critical to understanding the whole of scripture as the Old Testament is, in actuality, the Old Covenant and the New Testament is, in fact, the New Covenant. The Bible is the story of two covenants. The first was given to Adam, and he failed to seal the deal because he did not fulfill the terms and merit the rewards. That covenant began to be dismantled from almost the day it was instituted. It was destined to be dissolved.
Throughout the Old period, God continued to build toward the coming of the New. God crafted His work in the earth, imparted His knowledge, empowered His people, proclaimed His promises, and advanced His purposes. At the perfect season and in keeping with all of His providential guidance, God brought to earth another Adam – Jesus – who would fulfill everything expected of Him and satisfy the righteous demands of a covenantal inheritor. Jesus ratified the covenant that God was offering mankind. Jesus started the New Covenant. The Old would be dismantled.
Although the previous description is overly-simplified, the point is made that the whole of scripture is a covenant book, therefore, at least a minimal understanding of covenant is necessary for comprehension and obedience to God’s Word. In 1987, a theologian by the name of Ray R. Sutton published a book through the Institute for Christian Economics that was entitled, That You May Prosper. Sutton’s work reshaped and gave a well-formulated model to covenant theology. Based upon his studies of the configuration of covenants in the ancient world, Sutton identified a five-fold covenant structure. He then used the five-layer model as a grid to view the whole Bible, various books in the Bible, and portions of scriptures within the Bible. The following is a brief overview of Sutton’s model:
1. Point One, transcendence, identifies the one offering the covenant. Of course, in a biblical context, God is the only True Transcendent Being who not only created all things but also offered his highest creation – man – the privilege of working for Him and with Him to manage His world. This is often referred to as the Dominion Mandate (Gen. 1:26-28) and this was an offer for covenant from the Transcendent God.
2. Hierarchy distinguishes the one to whom the covenant is being offered or the steward of the covenant and the heir of the promises. The hierarchy is often described as visible sovereignty because God makes His Transcendent Being and His Transcendent purposes known in the earth through those invited into His covenant. Hierarchy manages Kingdom activity for the Eternal King in His earthly affairs. Adam was God’s covenant partner; Abraham and subsequently Israel was offered the position of hierarchy; and finally Jesus and subsequently His ekklesia was placed in the role of hierarchy.
3. Ethics is the third section of the covenant model. Ethics are the rules. The transcendent one has the authority to determine when and how his assets may be used. Therefore, the boss gives the terms of the covenant. The hierarchy receives the offer of covenant by accepting the terms. Should the hierarchy determine that he or she would want the power and privilege of the covenant but would not want to conduct the boss’s business in keeping with the boss’s rules, that hierarchy would not qualify for covenant. Adam rejected the ethics or terms of “you shall not eat,” an action that had covenant repercussions. God returned to announce that He would find and establish a new hierarchy, which He called a new seed line (Gen.3:15). Hierarchy must keep the ethics for the promises and provisions to be obtained.
4. Point four of the model is sanctions, and sanctions addresses the reward that is delivered to the hierarchy. That reward is based upon obedience to the ethic. Faithfully keeping all the rules yields blessings while disregarding or disobeying the rules produces curses. Deuteronomy 28 expresses this principle. Blessings and curses are tied to obedience to the ethic. Adam did not keep the ethic, broke the covenant, and loosed curses upon the land and his offspring. Jesus always did everything His Father commanded, fulfilled all the covenant terms, and loosed blessings upon His offspring. The hierarchy not only agrees to the terms of the covenant, the hierarchy also makes an oath that includes accepting the curses of the covenant should he or she fail to obey. This oath, sometimes referred to as a self-maledictory oath (which means calling down maledictions or evil upon oneself), was declared on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal (Deut. 27:9-26), acted out by the Israelites in a ceremony (Jer. 34:13-20), and was the reference point for the actions of Abraham as he prepared to cut covenant with God (Gen. 15:9-21).
5. The final aspect of the model is continuity or how the covenant may continue. Who is the heir; who manages next; who ensures the future management of the transcendent one’s property and ethics? This person was always identified by both the giver and the receiver of the covenant before the deal was struck. Of course, God can always represent Himself in the future because He is eternal. Abraham understood this covenantal stipulation, which is the reason Abraham asked the Lord if Eliezer his steward could quality as his heir since Abraham did not have a natural child (Gen. 15:2-6). Continuity is the reason for the promise of God in his proclamation of a seed line to Adam (Gen.3:15), the three generation description of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the Abrahamic covenant, and the promise of a lineage that would forever sit upon the throne to David. In the New Covenant, Jesus is forever alive to guarantee continuity and He always has His ekklesia operating in the earth.
The five points described above give only a brief overview of the covenant model. The subject is worthy of volumes of books. However, for the purpose of understanding what occurred in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18, this condensed explanation serves well. Jesus, in the role of Transcendence, offered the New Covenant to His called-out as His hierarchy and transferred to them authority and keys. As has been discussed earlier, those keys were the laws because the only ethic that God allows is the one He decrees. Remember Adam? Matthew 16 identifies the first three portions of the covenant model while Matthew 18 expounds upon the operation of points four and five. Matthew 18 sets up courts to meet out sanctions and to guarantee continuity. Learn more about this in the next article
